Mandy Gagliano was thrilled when her 4-year-old Rocky Mountain stallion Addi successfully passed his latest test. After a moment of hesitation and tactical thinking, Addi walked through the water box.
It’s one of the many obstacles Gagliano placed on the trail horse obstacle course she's building at High Country Rockies, where she breeds and trains rare Rocky Mountain horses at her facility near Gillette. She’s on a mission to preserve the breed and train her animals to be top-quality trail horses.
“You couldn’t ask for a better reaction,” Gagliano told Cowboy State Daily about how Addi navigated the water box. “He reacted, reassessed the situation, and moved forward without concern.”
Trail Horse Obstacle Course
Gagliano has been working with Rocky Mountain horses all her life. She grew up trail riding in northern Minnesota, which led to her founding High Country Rockies in Gillette as a breeding and training facility for trail riding horses.
“It’s all about exposure,” she said. “It’s putting miles in the saddle for the things you’re going to specifically be doing with the horses. They have to learn how to move their bodies and navigate different terrain.”
Gagliano does as much trail riding as she can in northern Wyoming, but lives more than an hour from “any decent riding” she can easily access for training. That’s why she’s investing in a sizable trail horse obstacle course.
“The sole purpose of my obstacle course is creating a solid trail horse,” she said. “Anything I can come up with to expose them to at home just makes things a lot easier for me.”
The “water box” is just one of the obstacles on the trail horse obstacle course. It’s a piece of plywood with holes in it sitting on a shallow pool of water.
“They step on the plywood, and the water squirts up through the holes,” Gagliano said. “It's a good way to desensitize them to things that surprise them. If you want to take them through moving water rapids, they need to be calm with what's going on around their feet.”
Other obstacles on Gagliano's course include bridges, teeter-totters, and a “deadfall walk” of crisscrossed tree trunks on a slope. There’s also a gauntlet of pool noodles on sticks and a 14-inch-wide balance beam they must walk across.
“That’s teaching the horses to pay attention to what's going on with their feet, which is probably the most important thing with a trail horse," she said.
Gagliano's video of her stallion, Addi, successfully passing through the water box has been viewed over six million times on Facebook. His response to the unexpected obstacle was perfect for a trained trail horse.
“He did exceptionally well,” she said.
Mandy Gagliano rides Addi, a 4-year-old Rocky Mountain trail horse, through an obstacle course in Gillette, Wyoming. (Courtesy Photo) 
Mandy Gagliano rides Addi, a 4-year-old Rocky Mountain trail horse, through an obstacle course in Gillette, Wyoming. Here, Addi learns while going through a water box. (Courtesy Photo) 
Mandy Gagliano rides Addi, a 4-year-old Rocky Mountain trail horse, through an obstacle course in Gillette, Wyoming. Here, they navigate through pool noodles, which trains the horse to push through branches and other obstacles on the trail. (Courtesy Photo)
Chocolate-Coated Horses
Every horse in Wyoming could be considered a “Rocky Mountain horse.” However, the Rocky Mountain horse is a registered breed developed in Kentucky in the 1890s.
Although the breed started with a horse from Colorado, Rocky Mountain horses are an Appalachian breed. The foundational sire was Old Tobe, a horse with a single-foot gait that spent 37 years blazing trails in Kentucky.
Rocky Mountain Horses were bred specifically to be excellent mounts for trail riding. Gagliano said the horses are prized for their “incredible dispositions” and signature coat of chocolate brown with flaxen manes and tails.
“Most horses trot, and the riders bounce,” she said. “Rocky Mountain horses are gaited, so the ride is as smooth as glass.”
Around 26,000 Rocky Mountain Horses are registered with the Rocky Mountain Horse Association, and Gagliano said that number has dropped in recent years.
The Livestock Conservancy has listed the Rocky Mountain horses as “threatened,” something else Gagliano prioritizes at her breeding facility.
“They’re like an endangered breed, so we're working on trying to build up their numbers,” she said.
At High Country Rockies, Gagliano breeds Rocky Mountain Horses with “good bone, a stocky build, a flashy, natural gait, and that sought-after, quiet disposition.” She’s especially thrilled with the attention Addi’s received since his water-box adventure, as he’s the stud she’ll be using for the next generation.
“He just turned 4 years old, so this is his first year being able to breed,” she said. “I'm really excited to see what he produces for me.”
Happy Trails
There isn’t much demand for these horses in Wyoming, but Gagliano said she’s sold several of her trained trail riding horses to people nationwide.
“The internet gives you a chance to connect with people from all over the world,” she said. “I’ve sent horses to Utah, Kentucky, and Florida, and shipped one to Germany several years ago, but trail riding isn't quite as common a recreation activity as you might expect in the western U.S.”
Gagliano can get “a decent handle” on the temperament of a trail horse within 90 to 120 days, but it takes years to develop a fully trained trail horse. The standard is set pretty high at High Country Rockies.
“There’s a lot I look for in a finished trail horse,” she said. “I want them to take everything in stride, not spook at a lot of things, calmly react to anything you ask them to do, move over off of leg and neck-reining pressure, and be able to maneuver specific parts of their body.”
The videos of Addi and other horses on High Country Rockies’ obstacle course are increasing the visibility of her business and Rocky Mountain Horses as a desirable breed.
The horse breed is especially desirable for endurance and pleasure riding, especially for children and first-time riders, given their gaited rides and gentle dispositions.
Gagliano believes returning Rocky Mountain horses to the Rocky Mountains will result in high-quality trail horses. Breeding and training her horses in Wyoming is an excellent selling point.
“Something people like to see in my horses is that they are used to the more strenuous terrain in northern Wyoming,” she said. “We ride them in the mountains to give them more exposure, and that’s the whole different ball game from other places where the horses are flatlanders.”
That’s why Gagliano is investing in her trail horse obstacle course.
The future owners of these registered Rocky Mountain horses might not traverse anything like the slopes of the Bighorns or a gauntlet of brightly colored pool noodles, but Gagliano knows her horses benefit from their Wyoming upbringing.
“You never know what you're going to come across on the trail,” she said.
Contact Andrew Rossi at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
